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175365

registered interest
date	22/01/2015
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Social Security Benefits: Disability
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Statement by Lord Freud on 22 July 2013 (WS 152) that the Department for Work and Pensions had engaged PricewaterhouseCoopers to provide independent advice in relation to strengthening quality assurance processes across all its health and disability assessments, when the results of that audit will be published.
tabling member printed	Lord Alton of Liverpool
uin	HL4368
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/01/2015 answer text <p /> <p>This was an internal review completed more than a year ago. Since then significant improvements have been introduced. As such, the review is out of date and the Department has no plans to publish the findings.</p><p><strong> </strong></p> answering member printed Lord Freud question first answered 29/01/2015 17:37:15 answering member 3893 label Biography information for Lord Freud
tabling member	738 label Biography information for Lord Alton of Liverpool

174283

registered interest
date	16/01/2015
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Mesothelioma: Compensation
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the position of mesothelioma claimants whose claims have been lodged with the T&N Asbestos Trusts; whether T&N claimants are receiving their legal entitlement; why T&N claimants are excluded from the benefits of the Mesothelioma Act 2014; and why those claimants are treated differently from any other claimant affected by mesothelioma.
tabling member printed	Lord Alton of Liverpool
uin	HL4227
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/01/2015 answer text <p /> <p>A person with diffuse mesothelioma, or their dependents, may be eligible to apply for the Diffuse Mesothelioma Payment Scheme (DMPS) if no one has received damages or a specified payment in respect of the disease or is eligible to receive a specified payment from another source.</p><p> </p><p>Eligibility for, or receipt of, such payments disqualifies an applicant from receiving a DMPS payment. This prevents a person receiving more than one payment for the same condition and ensures that all claimants are treated fairly and with equity.</p><p> </p><p>These specified payments include payments under the Turner and Newall Trusts.</p> answering member printed Lord Freud question first answered 22/01/2015 14:02:12 answering member 3893 label Biography information for Lord Freud
tabling member	738 label Biography information for Lord Alton of Liverpool

174284

registered interest
date	16/01/2015
answering body	Department of Health
answering dept id	17
answering dept short name	Health
answering dept sort name	Health
hansard heading	IVF
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answers by Earl Howe on 18 November 2014 (HL2644) and by the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Public Health, Jane Ellison, on 3 December 2014 (HC 216104) and 12 January 2015 (HC 220130), whether the particular member of the expert panel convened by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) who had corresponded with one of the authors of the research published in Fertility and Sterility (2003, Volume 80, Supplement 3, p56) had done so in an official capacity on behalf of the HFEA; if so, how the information thus obtained was shared with all other members of the HFEA’s expert panel and why this should be withheld from Parliamentarians when the data concerned is not otherwise intended for further publication in a scientific journal; or if not, whether they consider such a private email exchange to be appropriate and how that reflects the objectivity of the HFEA’s expert panel in scrutinising the safety of proposed procedures.
tabling member printed	Lord Alton of Liverpool
uin	HL4228
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/01/2015 answer text <p>The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has advised that the correspondence the Expert Panel member had with the research group does not add any more information to what had already been outlined in the relevant abstract, by John Zhang et al, published in Fertility and Sterility, Vol. 80, Suppl. 3, September 2003, which makes it clear the complications related to the multiple pregnancy and that the fetuses were found to be genetically normal. The Panel confirmed with the research group that it did not publish any further detail or follow up to this study, so the Panel has taken the view that there is nothing further for it to consider in relation to this case. For this reason, there is no ‘data concerned’.</p><p> </p><p><strong> </strong></p><p> </p><p>The HFEA has also advised that the member of the Expert Panel corresponded with one of the authors of this abstract in his capacity as a Panel member, not on behalf of the HFEA. This correspondence was shared with the other Panel members. The Expert Panel is independent of the HFEA and does not act of its behalf.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Earl Howe grouped question UIN HL4063 question first answered 26/01/2015 12:16:50 answering member 2000 label Biography information for Earl Howe
tabling member	738 label Biography information for Lord Alton of Liverpool

174100

registered interest
date	15/01/2015
answering body	Department of Health
answering dept id	17
answering dept short name	Health
answering dept sort name	Health
hansard heading	IVF
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answers by Viscount Younger of Leckie on 12 November 2013 (WA 113–4), by Earl Howe on 30 October 2013 (WA 259) and 22 January 2014 (WA 128–9), the Written Statement by the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Public Health, Jane Ellison, on 17 December 2014 (HC Deb, cols 96–7WS) and the Written Answer by the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Public Health, Jane Ellison, on 12 January 2015 (HC220181), whether section 3ZA(4)(b) of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990 (as amended) and paragraph 1(4) of Schedule 2 (activities for which licences may be granted: licences for treatment) would already permit spindle-chromosomal complex transfer or pronuclear transfer to be licensed for use in treatments on the basis of their various statements that neither the nuclear DNA nor the mitochondrial DNA of eggs or embryos would be altered by virtue of using these techniques; if so, what is the purpose of the proposed regulations 4(a)–(c) and 7(a)–(c) of the Draft Human Fertilisation and Embryology (Mitochondrial Donation) Regulations 2015 for otherwise proscribed procedures if "no nuclear or mitochondrial DNA of any cell of the embryo has been altered"; or if not, how the need for further regulations under section 3ZA(5) of the Act to permit clinical interventions in which "all the nuclear DNA" is removed so as to entail "altering the nuclear or mitochondrial DNA of a cell while it forms part of an embryo" can be reconciled with assurances that "the donated mitochondria will not be altered nor will the nuclear DNA of the child’s parents’ egg or embryo that will be used in these procedures."
tabling member printed	Lord Alton of Liverpool
uin	HL4203
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/01/2015 answer text <p>The Department is confident that the Draft Human Fertilisation and Embryology (Mitochondrial Donation) Regulations 2015 have a sound legislative base in the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990, as amended.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Earl Howe question first answered 26/01/2015 15:42:12 answering member 2000 label Biography information for Earl Howe
tabling member	738 label Biography information for Lord Alton of Liverpool

173528

registered interest
date	13/01/2015
answering body	Home Office
answering dept id	1
answering dept short name	Home Office
answering dept sort name	Home Office
hansard heading	Syria
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the reply by Baroness Northover on 13 January, whether they will list by country how many Syrian refugees have been accepted by each of the European Union member states.
tabling member printed	Lord Alton of Liverpool
uin	HL4110
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/01/2015 answer text <p>The resettlement pledges for all countries including those from European Union member states is listed on the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) website. The direct link to this page is as follows: <a href="http://www.unhcr.org/52b2febafc5.html" target="_blank">http://www.unhcr.org/52b2febafc5.html</a></p><p>Ninety people were relocated to the UK under the Vulnerable Persons Relocation scheme between the first group of arrivals on 25 March and the end of September 2014. This is the latest publicly available figure, as numbers are released as part of the publication of Home Office official statistics each quarter; the number of arrivals under the scheme up to December 2014 will be published on 26 February.</p><p>Potential beneficiaries of the scheme are identified and referred to us by UNHCR. Given the serious vulnerability of the beneficiaries, our priority is to ensure that the support and accommodation they need is in place before they arrive in the UK. We are working closely with UNHCR, the International Organisation for Migration and local authorities to achieve this as soon as practically possible as the circumstances of each particular case allow. In these circumstances it is not possible to provide information on the number of individuals in any part of the resettlement process at any given time.</p><p>Beneficiaries of the scheme are granted five years’ Humanitarian Protection with all the rights and benefits that go with that status, including access to public funds, access to the labour market and the possibility of family reunion.</p><p>As the scheme is based on vulnerability - including women and children at risk, people with medical needs and survivors of torture and violence - it would not</p><p>be appropriate for us to release specific details of where individuals are being placed, as this risks undermining their privacy and recovery.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord Bates grouped question UIN HL4111 question first answered 21/01/2015 14:30:01 answering member 1091 label Biography information for Lord Bates
tabling member	738 label Biography information for Lord Alton of Liverpool

173529

registered interest
date	13/01/2015
answering body	Home Office
answering dept id	1
answering dept short name	Home Office
answering dept sort name	Home Office
hansard heading	Asylum: Syria
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the reply by Baroness Northover on 13 January, how many Syrian refugees have been accepted in the United Kingdom; over what period they have arrived here; how many have been settled or are in the process of being settled; what settlement rights have been conferred on them; and in what areas of the United Kingdom they are living.
tabling member printed	Lord Alton of Liverpool
uin	HL4111
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/01/2015 answer text <p>The resettlement pledges for all countries including those from European Union member states is listed on the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) website. The direct link to this page is as follows: <a href="http://www.unhcr.org/52b2febafc5.html" target="_blank">http://www.unhcr.org/52b2febafc5.html</a></p><p>Ninety people were relocated to the UK under the Vulnerable Persons Relocation scheme between the first group of arrivals on 25 March and the end of September 2014. This is the latest publicly available figure, as numbers are released as part of the publication of Home Office official statistics each quarter; the number of arrivals under the scheme up to December 2014 will be published on 26 February.</p><p>Potential beneficiaries of the scheme are identified and referred to us by UNHCR. Given the serious vulnerability of the beneficiaries, our priority is to ensure that the support and accommodation they need is in place before they arrive in the UK. We are working closely with UNHCR, the International Organisation for Migration and local authorities to achieve this as soon as practically possible as the circumstances of each particular case allow. In these circumstances it is not possible to provide information on the number of individuals in any part of the resettlement process at any given time.</p><p>Beneficiaries of the scheme are granted five years’ Humanitarian Protection with all the rights and benefits that go with that status, including access to public funds, access to the labour market and the possibility of family reunion.</p><p>As the scheme is based on vulnerability - including women and children at risk, people with medical needs and survivors of torture and violence - it would not</p><p>be appropriate for us to release specific details of where individuals are being placed, as this risks undermining their privacy and recovery.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord Bates grouped question UIN HL4110 question first answered 21/01/2015 14:30:01 answering member 1091 label Biography information for Lord Bates
tabling member	738 label Biography information for Lord Alton of Liverpool

173530

registered interest
date	13/01/2015
answering body	Department for International Development
answering dept id	20
answering dept short name	International Development
answering dept sort name	International Development
hansard heading	Syria
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the reply by Baroness Northover on 13 January, what action is being taken to respond to UNICEF’s report published on 11 January that UNICEF need additional resources to respond to winter conditions affecting refugees in Lebanon, Turkey, Egypt and Syria.
tabling member printed	Lord Alton of Liverpool
uin	HL4112
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/01/2015 answer text <p>In Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey and Iraq, DFID is supporting 13 implementing partners to carry out planned winterisation activities totalling over £32 million. This will provide an estimated 660,000 vulnerable people with items such as warm clothing, thermal blankets, mattresses, stoves, cash/vouchers and shelter support. In addition to our ongoing support to UNICEF in Syria and the region, a further £2 million has been provided to procure 65,000 blankets for Aleppo and Tartous in Syria reaching 32,500 children, and clothing kits for 45,000 children.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Baroness Northover question first answered 21/01/2015 12:01:52 answering member 2539 label Biography information for Baroness Northover
tabling member	738 label Biography information for Lord Alton of Liverpool

172990

registered interest
date	12/01/2015
answering body	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
answering dept id	16
answering dept short name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
answering dept sort name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
hansard heading	Saudi Arabia and Egypt
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they have made to the government of Saudi Arabia about the public flogging of a citizen who professed his atheism, and to the government of Egypt about the imprisonment of a citizen for professing atheism; and what assessment they have made of how such punishments may be reconciled with Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
tabling member printed	Lord Alton of Liverpool
uin	HL4062
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/01/2015 answer text <p>We are seriously concerned by Raif Badawi’s case. The UK condemns the use of cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment in all circumstances. The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond) has raised the matter with the Saudi Ambassador. We have previously raised the case at a senior level with the Saudi authorities.</p><p>The UK is a strong supporter of freedom of expression around the world. We believe that people must be allowed to freely discuss and debate issues, peacefully challenge their governments, exercise the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, and speak out against violations of human rights wherever they occur.</p><p>In Egypt, our Embassy in Cairo closely monitors cases where freedom of expression is threatened. I met the Egyptian Deputy Assistant Minister for Human Rights on 14 January. Foreign and Commonwealth Office Ministers have been clear throughout recent events in Egypt that the freedom of religious belief needs to be protected. We deplore all discrimination against religious minorities and constraints on their freedom to practise what they believe. <br> <br>We believe, as article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states, that everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion and that this right includes freedom to change one’s religion or belief. Any action to punish an individual for their faith or belief is not compatible with article 18.</p> answering member printed Baroness Anelay of St Johns question first answered 26/01/2015 17:14:07 answering member 3474 label Biography information for Baroness Anelay of St Johns
tabling member	738 label Biography information for Lord Alton of Liverpool

172991

registered interest
date	12/01/2015
answering body	Department of Health
answering dept id	17
answering dept short name	Health
answering dept sort name	Health
hansard heading	IVF
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Earl Howe on 18 November 2014 (HL2644), whether they will place in the Library of the House a full copy of the correspondence between members of the expert panel convened by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority and the Zhang research group, as referenced by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Public Health, Jane Ellison, in her letter to Lord Alton of Liverpool dated 30 October 2014; and if not, what was the evidential basis for the relevant statements in that letter.
tabling member printed	Lord Alton of Liverpool
uin	HL4063
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/01/2015 answer text <p>The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has advised that the correspondence the Expert Panel member had with the research group does not add any more information to what had already been outlined in the relevant abstract, by John Zhang et al, published in Fertility and Sterility, Vol. 80, Suppl. 3, September 2003, which makes it clear the complications related to the multiple pregnancy and that the fetuses were found to be genetically normal. The Panel confirmed with the research group that it did not publish any further detail or follow up to this study, so the Panel has taken the view that there is nothing further for it to consider in relation to this case. For this reason, there is no ‘data concerned’.</p><p> </p><p><strong> </strong></p><p> </p><p>The HFEA has also advised that the member of the Expert Panel corresponded with one of the authors of this abstract in his capacity as a Panel member, not on behalf of the HFEA. This correspondence was shared with the other Panel members. The Expert Panel is independent of the HFEA and does not act of its behalf.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Earl Howe grouped question UIN HL4228 question first answered 26/01/2015 12:16:50 answering member 2000 label Biography information for Earl Howe
tabling member	738 label Biography information for Lord Alton of Liverpool

172992

registered interest
date	12/01/2015
answering body	Department of Health
answering dept id	17
answering dept short name	Health
answering dept sort name	Health
hansard heading	Human-animal Hybrid Embryos
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answers by Viscount Younger of Leckie on 12 November 2013 (WA 113) and by Earl Howe on 22 January 2014 (WA 129), whether the generation of any human admixed embryos as defined under section 4A(6)(a) to (c) of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990 would constitute genetic modification; and if not, why not.
tabling member printed	Lord Alton of Liverpool
uin	HL4064
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/01/2015 answer text <p>The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) advises that the creation of human admixed embryos is permitted by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990, as amended, solely for the purposes of research allowed by the Act. These embryos cannot continue to be used in research after 14 days or the appearance of the primitive streak, whichever is the earlier, and must be discarded.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The HFEA does not believe that discussion of genetic modification, as it might be considered to apply to the creation of human admixed embryos, can usefully add to the debate on the definition of genetic modification in humans.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Earl Howe question first answered 26/01/2015 12:18:30 answering member 2000 label Biography information for Earl Howe
tabling member	738 label Biography information for Lord Alton of Liverpool